


tongue-tied

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: (because y'know the whole cursed child thing), Albus and Scorp’s Time Travelling Extravaganza™, Angst, Bisexual Characters, CC spoilers, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Fluff, Gay Character, Getting Together, Lesbian Character, M/M, Post Cursed Child, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Scorbus, Two bisexuals; a lesbian; and a gay dude walk into a train compartment, What Have I Done, because I said so, but still sort of slow?, can someone pls make that a tag, it's not too slow, kinda slow burn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24796918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There were so many things about Scorpius that had always been there, that were beginning to be more apparent to Albus. Like how he looked in glasses, and his rosy-cheeks, and how his eyes shone whenever he laughed. Every time Albus would see his slim fingers carding through the pages of a book, or watch his face relax completely while he cast a spell, he’d get butterflies. And no matter how hard he tried to push them down, to repress his growing feelings, he couldn’t deny it, at least not from himself, any longer.---Following Albus and Scorpius from fifth year onward, because no, it doesn't all happen in one year.
Relationships: Rose Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my dudes! I've had this idea brewing in my head for quite some time, and I've also made an extensive timeline for it in my notes app, so this should hopefully take up some of my extra time! I really do love these two idiots, and I hope you do too! I also hope you can grow to love Cassie, who's inspired heavily by myself. On to the fic!
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> xx,  
> CJ

i.

Albus dropped his trunk by his mother’s feet and bounded across the platform to a familiar head of blond hair. He reached Scorpius, panting, and pulled his friend into a hug.

“Albus!” Scorpius laughed, hugging him back just as tightly. “The hug master is back!”

  
“Ah, you know you love it!” Albus sighed, pulling back. 

“Have you been growing out your hair?” Scorpius questioned, noticing the longer strands tucked behind Albus’ ears. 

“Yeah, what do you think?” he asked, looking for Scorpius’ approval, as always. “Rose thinks it looks ridiculous, but she saw it last two months ago at a picnic, and it’s grown quite a bit since then. I really like it, actually, I reckon I’ll keep growing it out.”

“I think it looks great, Al!” Scorpius beamed. “If you keep growing it for a while, you’ll start looking like Sirius Black!”

Albus chuckled at that, glancing over at his brother. “I’ll bet you that my brother would  _ hate  _ that. He swears he's the rebel of the family, and me looking like Sirius would push him off his high-horse. On another note, have you seen Rose anywhere?” 

“No, I figured you might have though?”

“I haven’t either.” Al hummed. “But I also haven’t seen her parents, so maybe they’re running late.”

“I doubt it,” Scorpius said. “When has Rose ever run late?”

“Fair enough. She  _ could  _ already be on the train?” 

“There’s no harm in checking.”

They gathered their trunks and walked towards the back of the train, leaving their luggage on a rack and heading for their usual compartment. Rose was, in fact, already there, wearing her uniform and flipping through a text book. “Boys!” she said once she’d noticed them, jumping up and pulling them into a group hug. 

“How did we end up as hugging people?” Albus muttered to Scorpius from where he was squished in between Rose’s arms. 

“M’ not sure,” Scorpius murmured back, smiling fondly at Albus as he rolled his eyes. 

Rose released them from her death grip, smirking playfully at the pair of them. “It’s good to see you knobheads.”

Scorpius sighed, and Albus rolled his eyes once more, flopping down onto seats opposite each other. Just as the train was pulling out of the station, someone knocked sharply on the glass door of the compartment. Rose went to open the door, and a tall girl stepped in, wearing Hufflepuff robes with honey-brown hair, freckles strew across her cheeks, and a wicked smile on her face.

“Hi!” she started. “I was wondering if you had space for one more?”

“Of course,” Albus smiled, moving closer to the window to give her a seat. “I’m just going to figure that you know our names?”

“Yeah, contrary to popular belief, the drama  _ does  _ reach the Badger Set.” she smirked, and Scorpius and Albus both burst out laughing, leaving Rose to stare at her puzzlingly. 

“Teddy wasn’t joking,” Albus wheezed. “You really  _ do  _ call it the Badger Set!”

“What else would we call it?”

“The common room?” Rose pitched sarcastically, causing both her and the girl to join in on the boy’s giggle fest. “No, really, even if you know our names, we don’t know yours.”

“Oh, Cassiopeia Flint-Wood, but you can just call me Cassie,” she said, sticking out a hand for Rose to shake. 

“Oh, I’ve heard about your fathers!” Scorpius said, and his eyes lit up with the same expression that he always had whenever he talked about quidditch. “They were the first openly gay male couple to play in the pros. I’ve read a bunch about them!”

Cassie put on a face that looked as if she had already heard this too many times to count, but didn’t interrupt Scorpius as he went off on a rant about queer representation in quidditch, which made Albus like her immediately. “So,” he said quietly, turning to face her. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Well, I’m an only child, Hufflepuff, erm, I dunno,” she sighed. “I’m really not that interesting.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Rose insisted. “There’s at least one interesting thing about everyone! Like, my interesting fact is that I dance classical ballet. Why don’t we all say something interesting about ourselves? Albus?”

“Don’t mind her,” Albus muttered to Cassie out of the corner of his mouth. “She gets like this sometimes.” Cassie rolled her eyes fondly, and Albus raised his voice back to a normal level, saying; “I love reading and writing, although I write more than I read. Scorpius still takes the cake as the book nerd, but I am decidedly the literature nerd. I’ve written two full-length novels, and I write music and poetry. I  _ also  _ play guitar and sing, because I decided that I wanted to write songs for myself too, not just other people.”   
  


“Huh,” Cassie said. “You didn’t really strike me as a musical person,  _ or  _ as a writer-ly person, but I guess I’ve never really talked to you before.”

“Scorpius, why don’t you tell us your interesting fact?” Rose asked, ever the leader. 

“Oh, erm, let me think.” he paused, and mouthed something to himself, shaking his head. “Well, Albus mentioned that I’m a book nerd, but something that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’ve always had bad eyes, and reading all of them time worsened my far-sight, so I’ve needed glasses since third year, but I only really ever wear contacts.”

“What about you, Cassie?” Albus asked. “What’s your interesting fact?”

“Well, let me think.” she said. “I am  _ also _ a book nerd,  _ and  _ a writer. We totally need to start a book club, by the way. But, anyways, on top of all that, I’m a  _ raging  _ lesbian and I read and write mostly queer literature, either written by a queer person, about queer people, or both. Also-also, I play guitar, piano, and ukulele, as well as write my own songs. Oh, on top of that, I  _ love  _ quidditch, and I’m the Puff’s captain.”

“You’re gay?” Rose asked. Cassie nodded, and Rose’s face broke out into a huge smile. “I’m bisexual.”

“Wait, you too?” Scorpius gaped, pointing an accusatory finger at Rose. 

“Ah, guess I’ll have to follow the trend,” Albus sighed. “Surprise! I’m hopping on the same-sex bandwaggon!” 

They all dissolved into laughter, clutching their stomachs as tears rolled down their faces. “And to think,” Cassie gasped, interrupting herself with giggles. “To think that I almost sat by myself.”

By the time they had reached Hogwarts, Albus knew for a fact that he’d never get sick of Cassie Flint. 

  
  



	2. ii.

ii.

Albus sat up tiredly, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He parted the curtains around his four poster to find Scorpius awake as well, wearing gold wire-framed glasses and flipping through a book. “How the hell are you  _ already  _ reading?” he mumbled sleepily, causing Scorpius to turn towards him, placing down his book.

They were alone in the dorm that year; they’d had two roommates up until fourth year, but both of them had transferred to Durmstrang for their OWL year and up. So this year and onwards was set to be just the two of them, their twin beds next to each other in front of the fireplace, and a few overstuffed armchairs right in front of the hearth. 

“Albus, when am I  _ not reading _ ?”

“Fair enough,” Albus yawned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and stretching his arms above his head. “Any idea what time it is? We really need to get an alarm clock for this room.”

“It’s seven fifteen,” Scorpius said, “And you do have a watch, y’know.”

“Yeah, but my watch is all the way on the nightstand, and that’s hard to reach from my bed,” Albus whined, wincing as his feet first hit the cold stone floor. “C’mon, I promised the girls that we’d meet them for breakfast at seven thirty.”

Albus emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, having brushed his teeth and washed his face. Scorpius had gone back to his book, looking completely emerged in the plot lines once more. Albus walked silently up to him, and snapped his fingers in front of Scorpius’ face, clutching his stomach with laughter as Scorp jumped and swore. 

“Wanker,” he muttered, finally getting out of bed. 

They dressed in silence, a tradition they’d picked up after spending many an early morning together. As Albus turned around to grab his watch off of the table, he noticed Scorpius pulling off his glasses. “Leave them on.” he said softly. 

Scorpius turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. “Really? I don’t think they look all that good.”

“Leave them on,” Albus repeated. “They look good.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, “I do.”

They walked together towards the great hall, meeting Cassie just in front of the doors. “Boys!” she greeted them, a sly smile on her face. Her presence helped to lift the early-morning fog that had descended over the two of them, and they both smiled back at her in turn. 

“Hullo,” Scorpius said, pausing to yawn. 

The three of them walked into the hall, making a beeline towards Rose, who was sitting at their normal spot at the Hufflepuff table. It’d been a struggle for the four of them to decide what table to sit at, but they’d eventually decided to sit with the Puff’s, on account of their chillness, and of course, of Cassie. 

“Ugh,” Albus groaned. “What day is it?”

“Erm, October 26th, why do you ask?” Rose puzzled, raising an eyebrow.

“God dammit,” he swore under his breath. “We’ve got double Defense with my dad. Why did that sentence sound so satisfying?”   
  


“Alliteration.” Rose and Scorpius said in unison, bumping fists without looking.

“Neeeerds.” Albus and Cassie responded together, playing one-handed pattycakes without a backwards glance.

“Damn, Rose, they’ve out-handshaked us!” Scorpius swore sarcastically, and the group dissolved into laughter. 

After breakfast they headed up towards one of the larger Defense classrooms, joining the rest of the fifth years who were waiting with baited breath for Harry to arrive. The four of them loitered awkwardly in the back of the classroom, and Albus couldn’t help but notice the way that Scorpius’ hair was glinting in the sunlight, or how he was biting his lip slightly, in that way that he always had when he was deep in thought.

There were so many things about Scorpius that had always been there, that were beginning to be more apparent to Albus. Like how he looked in glasses, and his rosy-cheeks, and how his eyes shone whenever he laughed. Everytime Albus would see his slim fingers carding through the pages of a book, or watch his face relax completely while he cast a spell, he’d get butterflies. And no matter how hard he tried to push them down, to repress his growing feelings, he couldn’t deny it, at least not from himself, any longer. 

He’d fallen for Scorpius. And he’d fallen hard.

Albus was brought back to earth by a lull in conversation, the source of the quiet being his very own father, standing at the front of the classroom. He immediately straightened his posture, and Scorpius noticed how his facial expression became more closed off, and reserved.

“Al,” he whispered. “You good?”

“Hm?” Albus murmured, turning to Scorpius. “I’m fine, Scorp, just, y’know, it's my dad.” 

“Yeah.”

“Alright, class!” Harry said from the front of the room, clasping his hands together. “So, today’s lesson will be mostly practical work, just working on your incantations and motions. I’d like to have everyone on this side of the room-” he paused, gesturing to the group of people closest to the door, “-if you could follow Mr. Filch to the western defense classroom, and I’ll be over there in just a minute to explain what we’re doing. 

“So, for those of you left, if you could please form into groups of four?” Everyone scattered across the room towards their friends, and Albus stepped backwards a bit, towards Rose and Cassie. Scorpius followed suit, and the four of them were soon forming a circle in the back of the room, wands drawn. “Alright,” Harry started. “So, now that we’ve got the formation down, I want everyone to cast some simple spells, some that you’ll need to know for your OWLs, but don’t put too much force behind them. Whoever’s being cast at should be able to use a shield charm to repel those spells, but again, please don’t put too much force behind them. 

“Stupefy!” Cassie said, pointing her wand at Albus.

“Protego!” he said back, the spell bouncing off of the shield that he’d conjured. “My God, this is so sad,” he laughed, realizing that everyone around them was literally whispering combat spells. “Like actually, this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done! Who the hell ever needs a whispered shield charm?”

“I don’t know!” Cassie cried, clutching her stomach with laughter. “The best part of this, is that Scorpius and Rose are laughing too, but only because they both cast tickling charms on each other at the same time!”

They dissolved into giggles, a phenomenon that was becoming more and more common for Albus.

As Harry scanned over the classroom, looking for his son, he noticed the group of four laughing teenagers towards the back of the classroom. He startled for a moment, unused to seeing Albus so happy and carefree. There was someone who he’d never seen before, a girl who wasn’t Rose. She and Albus appeared to be dueling each other through their laughter, and Harry couldn’t help but wonder if his son had gotten himself a girlfriend.   
  


(He hadn’t.)


	3. iii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this new chapter! I'm going to start updating every friday, so lookout for a new one next week!
> 
> xx,  
> CJ

iii.

  
  


_ Dear Albus, _

_ I was talking to Harry the other day, and he said that you’ve gotten a girlfriend! He was saying that he saw you joking around with some girl in the back of the room when he came in to teach Defense. Is that true? If so, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. If not, ???.  _

_ Anyways, things have been pretty chill out here in Romania. Your Uncle and I have been raising a litter of Nifflers, and I think you should come and help us with them for a few weeks over the summer, if your parents are okay with it. They’re really quite cute, and also surprisingly snuggly! _

_ On another note, I’ve sent you something that used a bunch back in my Hogwarts days, that belonged to my father. It’s an old portable record player that I’m pretty sure your grandfather gave to him. You mentioned a few letters back that you wished you could bring your wireless to school, so hopefully this can take it’s place. (I always thought vinyls sounded better than wireless anyways) I also sent some of my favorite records, so that you’ll actually have music to listen to! _

_ I’m excited to see you for the holidays! You can tell me all about your secret lady love! _

_ Cheers, _

_ Teddy _

“Mother of God,” Albus sighed, closing his eyes and banging his head against the table. 

“What?” Cassie asked through a mouthful of porridge. 

“My dad thinks you’re my girlfriend.” he moaned, not lifting his head from off the table.

“What?!”

“Ohgodohgodohgodohgod,” Albus muttered, finally looking up at his friends. “You’ve become my beard.”

“What in the-” “How the hell-” Rose and Scorpius said at the same time.

“Alright, let’s be logical about this.” Cassie started, taking Rose’s place as the level-headed one of the group. “For one, how do you know he thinks we’re dating?”

“Teddy sent me a letter saying that Dad saw us literally just  _ talking and laughing together  _ during his Defense class, and because we’re of the opposite gender, that obviously means we’re dating.” Albus said, glancing down at the letter for reference. 

“Oh dear,” Cassie sighed. “Okay, well that’s a problem.”

“What’re you going to do?” Rose asked, always the problem solver.

“I dunno,” Al hummed. “I hate owling Dad, it always makes me write really awkwardly and formally for some reason, so I’ll probably just write Teddy to clear it up. Oh, speaking of Teddy, he sent me a record player, one of the old, portable ones! It used to belong to his father.”

“Ooh, those are so cool!” Rose said, much to everyone’s surprise. “What?” she asked when they all turned to look at her. “Even I can appreciate a good record!”

After they all finished breakfast, Scorpius, Rose, and Cassie headed out to study by the lake while Albus peeled back to his dorm to write a letter to Teddy.

_ Dear Teddy, _

_ Just to clear things up, I do NOT have a girlfriend! The girl that Dad saw me with is Cassie Flint-Wood, one of my friends. We weren’t really close up until this year, which is why he’d never seen us together, but now we’re just about best friends.  _

_ I’m really excited to see you during the holidays as well! We’ve got a lot to catch up on, and I also wanted to talk to you about some things regarding Cassie, and how Dad thinks I have a girlfriend. I’d love to help you and Uncle Charlie with your Nifflers over the summer as well, and I’m sure that Mum would let me go! _

_ I’m sorry this letter is a bit shorter than usual, but me and my friends have a study session planned at the lake, and I’m running late! _

_ Xx, _

_ Albus _

_ P.S. Thanks so much for the record player! I’m sure I’ll get a lot of use out of it, and I’ll make sure not to set it on fire, or anything! _

He tucked the letter securely into an envelope, and practically sprinted up to the owlery, hastily tying the note to his owl and sending her off. By the time he reached the lake, Rose and Scorpius were engaged in a heated debate about the pronunciation of some particular davinitory spell (“it’s a soft ‘o’ and a hard ‘g’ Rose!” “No, it’s a hard ‘o’ and a soft ‘k’!”) while Cassie was lounging against a tree and flipping languidly through a book. Albus flopped down next to her, sifting through his bag and pulling out his Arithmany textbook.

“So you’re not out to your parents yet?” Cassie asked quietly.

Al looked up from his textbook, frowning. “No, I’m not. It’s not that they’re homophbic, or anything, but I’m just not sure how they’ll take it, y’know? I’m probably gonna talk to Teddy about it over the holidays, ask him about how he came out to them.”

“He’s pan, right?”

“Yeah,” Albus smiled. He’d always thought of Teddy like a brother, because he and James never really got along well. When Teddy had come out, it’d really given Albus that push to confront his own sexuality, but he had yet to come out to anyone but his friends. 

“Y’know, coming out to your parents doesn’t have to be such a big deal.” Cassie offered. “When I came out to my dads, I just said to them ‘You know how you’re gay? Yeah, I’m gay too.’ It was as sim ple as that.”

“Yeah, but wasn’t it super awkward?” Albus questioned. “I can’t even immagine having to sit my parents down and tell them that I’m gay.”

“Eh, they were mostly just relieved that I couldn’t get pregnant.” Cassie chuckled, and Albus laughed too, letting himself forget for a moment.

Scorpius looked over at them, admiring the way that Albus looked when he laughed. So carefree, so open, eyes closed and head thrown back. His laughter was always so free spirited, a glimpse for the outside world to see what the  _ real  _ Albus was like. Whenever he was around his friends, he was such a different person than he was around his family. And Scorpius loved him for that, and maybe even as more than a friend.

Albus noticed him looking and waved him over, inviting him to sit by the tree. Scorpius jogged across the lawn, becoming Rose to follow, and the two of the collapsed next to Albus and Cassie, the four of them huddling together for warmth.

“Y’know,” Albus said to Cassie, who was tucked under his arm, “this really doesn’t help the rumor that we’re dating.”

The four friends erupted with laughter, and Scorpius let himself admire Albus, if only from afar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a comment and kudos down below, they always make my day!
> 
> xx,  
> CJ

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I should have one of two chapters up per week, and each chapter should be between 1 and 2 k. Please leave a comment and kudos, if you feel so inclined, and have a wonderful day! <3
> 
> xx,  
> CJ


End file.
